768. In Our Bedroom After the War

I think this album is telling a story, but I can't quite piece it together.

767. The first season and a half of Lost

I liked Lost up until the point where it looked like there was never really an explanation for all the crazy stuff on the island. The show was great when there was still hope of a unified explanation. Also, a bonus work of art. #767a: Spooky trombone.

766. Valley of the Shadow of Death

One of these two photos shows this road in Crimea as it was when Roger Fenton came upon it. In the other, someone has either put cannonballs onto the road or taken them off the road. It's still not clear which photograph came first or whether one of the scenes was deliberately manipulated to make for a better picture.

765. xkcd

A webcomic about nerds and love.

764. In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

763. Bernie

I usually can't stand Jack Black, but he was actually really good in this as a mortician who kills a horrible old lady.

762. Ocean's Eleven (the remake)

I couldn't find any pictures I liked of the movie, so then I went looking for pictures of eleven. Failing that, here is an ocean. (Can you guess which one?)

761. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

Not all art has to be high culture, right? They really executed the level design, music choices, and gameplay mechanic perfectly on this one.

760. LOVE (the sculpture)

The synonymous emotion is nice, too, but it probably doesn't qualify as art.

759. California Love

You should watch the video. It seems to be positing a Mad Max-like dystopian future where conflicts are settled through rap battles.

758. The CN Tower

The tower that sneaks into the background of poorly edited movie scenes to let you know they're not really in New York.

757. Stardust (the book)

The picture is unrelated to the book, but it sure is pretty.

756. "My name is Legion, for we are many"

I love the use of syntactic disagreement as a mechanism to offput the reader. The whole story with the man possessed by a legion of demons is a little strange, but that one line is genius.

755. Joseph Ducreux's self portrait

You know, the 18th century Frenchman who translates modern rap lyrics into flowery language.

754. The Potato Eaters

Looks like it was a real bummer to be a Dutch farmer in the 1800s.

753. Ode on a Grecian Urn

THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape	5
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?	10
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave	15
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal—yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!	20
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearièd,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!	25
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.	30
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea-shore,	35
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul, to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.	40
O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!	45
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'	50

752. Silfra

An album of duets for violin and prepared piano. Oddly compelling.

751. The dance contest from Pulp Fiction

750. Home

Listen here.

749. Notes from a Big Country

A book about the quirks of America written by an American who's lived in Britain for 20 years.

748. The Battle of Anghiari

A lost painting, supposedly Leonardo da Vinci's greatest work. (Above is a copy by Rubens.) A researcher thinks it's hidden behind a wall in a Florentine church. Unfortunately, that wall also has a priceless fresco on it, so it's a little hard to check.

747. In the Desert

In the desert

I saw a creature, naked, bestial,

Who, squatting upon the ground,

Held his heart in his hands,

And ate of it.

I said, “Is it good, friend?”

“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;

“But I like it

“Because it is bitter,

“And because it is my heart.”

746. A Charlie Brown Christmas

You know what struck me about it when I watched it this year? It's such a fragile piece of art. If any piece of it had been different -- if it didn't have the Vince Guaraldi piano music or the child voice actors or Linus's big speech -- it just wouldn't have worked. Luckily, they got everything just right.

745. Best Game Ever

Amateur improv artists turn a little league baseball game into a professional sporting event. (With screaming fans, mascots, hot dog vendors, and more.) Read about it here.

744. Solaris

Creepy Polish science fiction about ... communication and loneliness, maybe? Strangely similar to Blindness, if Blindness were set on an alien planet. I hear the Russian movie version is good and the American movie version is not.

743. 10 Things I Hate About You

An extremely entertaining adaptation of The Taming of The Shrew. Did you know that Sarah Lawrence is a real school? They didn't just make it up for this movie.

742. King Cotton

One of Sousa's less overplayed marches. Listen here.

741. Grainstacks, White Frost Effect

We already did a summer haystacks. Here's a winter one.

740. Gulliver's Travels

I like the part where he goes to Glubbdubdrib.

739. Dawn of the Dead

Zombies as an allegory for consumerism.

738. High Noon

I probably should have used this one around the halfway point, but I guess New Year's Day works, too.